Guy Mathews is widely acknowledged as one of the most knowledgeable and influential figures in the Australian antique industrial furniture and decorative arts scene.
He is a curator, a maker, designer and artist, and travels throughout the world assembling and restoring collections of pieces he deems “rare, useful and beautiful”. Transcending fads and fashions, Guy’s aesthetic is one of timelessness and curiosity.
Since opening Australia’s first specialist antique industrial store in Sydney’s Taylor Square in 1985, Guy has been a pioneer in the field, with further stores opening in Melbourne’s Chapel Street 1991, Fitzroy 2011, Collingwood 2017 and Carlton, and now working from his latest retail headquarters on the fringe of Melbourne’s CBD at 13 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy.
He continues to uphold the tradition of carefully shaping his physical world that is reflected in the Furniture, Decorative Arts and unique garments that you might find in his gallery.
Guy’s passion for history, travel, literature and industrial pieces converge in his artworks. He remodels pieces of discarded advertising signs and typographical placards to create unique large-scale works of bricolage and tabletop sculptures.
He continues to work within the medium producing new work regularly for his Shop/Gallery and for private commissions.
photo: Samantha Mackie www.samanthamackie.com
2023
1985